The Naked Kiss1964

Sam Fuller's most notorious film, unleashed on an unsuspecting public in 1964, begins with a bang that sets the tone for the madness of what's coming: a prostitute looms over the camera while beating a pimp senseless with her stiletto'd shoe, all while screaming that she's about to take back "only what's comin' to her." Seconds later, the pimp pulls off the woman's hair, to reveal a shaved head. It's the State of America, therein. From there, the film uncovers that appearances are not what they seem within our fair country, where "ordinary citizens" hold secrets far more perverse than any big-city hooker; child molestation, corrupt cops and beating deaths with telephone receivers soon follow, all set to Fuller's frantic pace. Our heroine soon takes refuge in a small town and reinvents herself as a nurse caring for crippled kids; a new lover (a local millionaire) may offer salvation… or are his secrets actually far darker than her own? Fuller shot THE NAKED KISS as a true independent film, holding total control over production and final edits. The result may be as close as he's gotten to his immortal line in Jean-Luc Godard’s PIERROT LE FOU: "a film should be like a battleground: love, hate, action, death… in one word: emotion!" Intense, frequently deranged and always enraged, THE NAKED KISS sets fire to the hypocrisies of middle-class life and gleefully exposes the rot within the American dream. Released in 1964, its madness and rage have arguably yet to be matched. - Jason Sanders

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"Fuller gives us an ugly, tawdry America hiding its guilt under a surface of normalcy." - Sean Axmaker, Parallax View

3 members like this review

This is my favorite movie of all time. "......you'll hate all men. And you'll hate yourself! Because you'll become a social problem, a medical problem, a MENTAL problem!... And a despicable failure as a woman." That goes through my head all the time. Seriously. At least "I don't give change." has worked out well for me financially. I would marry this film.

Member Reviews (15)

This is my favorite movie of all time. "......you'll hate all men. And you'll hate yourself! Because you'll become a social problem, a medical problem, a MENTAL problem!... And a despicable failure as a woman." That goes through my head all the time. Seriously. At least "I don't give change." has worked out well for me financially. I would marry this film.

"Angel Foam," "Rock of Gibraltar," "Bluebird of Happiness": prostitution, pedophilia, and a ward of singing children on crutches. Not since films didn't have sound--and therefore hit viewers over the head with 1000-lb. symbolism to make sure they wouldn't remain unmoved--has anyone laid it on this thick. Well, maybe "Shock Corridor" did, but Samuel Fuller made that one, too. With one of the most memorable opening scenes in cinematic history, this improbable combination of sentimentality and perversion jiggles and quakes like a mid-century Jello salad. Recommended pairings: deviled eggs, meatloaf, and "Lady in a Cage" (released the same year).

Well...its not the best bad girl trying to make good story in post Film Noir 1964 - but Constance Towers gives a Dorothy Malone, Douglas Sirk type performance - unfortunately, the budget is not that of a Douglas Sirk movie, and the rest of the cast thought likable, its just not Rock Hudson and Robert Stack. That said - it has refreshing unexpected twists - it just needs better cinematography and better editing.

The Naked Kiss was made in 1964 and, while Kelly's maquillage, girdle and stilettoes plant her in the Kennedy era, the film, the script, and its independent, fearless, badass heroine could be moved ten years ahead to the days of Watergate without changing anything but the aesthetics. Kelly may be a whore, but she's the only person in town who won't sell out.

What a brave film for 1964. That's almost 50 years ago, people. Some of the lines are corny as you would expect, but the opening sequence!? Come on, that's awesome stuff. This main character is nobody's fool and not a helpless woman. I think this is definitely a worthwhile watch for those into the genre.

Don't waster your time on this sloppy, cliche-ridden plot, amateurish acting and generally poor excuse for an homage to Hollywood Film Noir. Instead, take in the beautifully crafted FAREWELL, MY LOVELY (1975), directed by Dick Richards and starring Robert Mitchum and Charlotte Rampling. You won't be disappointed!

It is amazing how a low-budget flick like Fuller's can probe reality in much more profound ways than all the Hollywood glitz of the time. Small-town attitudes on prostitution, police corruption, philanthropy, and child abuse, are portrayed with minimum intrusion by the director. Patsy Kelly went on to be the Bad Seed.

Samuel Fuller deftly portrays the seamy secrets beneath small-town, Post WWII life as a prostitute rolls into town and quickly realizes she wishes to change her ways and live on the other, straighter side. Constance Towers and Patsy Kelly are perfectly cast.

I think back to my protected life. In 1964 I was a junior in high school. There was nothing shocking in my life until I found out that some friends of mine, in the theater were gay. That really threw me, a catholic school girl. I have been less protected the last 3/4 of my life yet a movie like this is truly riveting. It shows the wholesome loving side of life, the side I knew. The side I saw in movies in those days. What I find most compelling is the complete honesty. Life can be both kind and sordid and they can exist side by side and in one person. Grant understood his own illness and saw this woman he wanted to marry as perverted.That honest admission was most shocking to me. My inner school girl wanted her to fall in love with the cop or be embraced by the town and asked to stay. No Hollywood endind here but, in a way, it was a happy ending because good did triumph, in a 1960's sort of way. way.

Boring? Sloppy? Overrated? If Sam Fuller were alive today, he'd probably tell you you don't know what you're talking about. Since he isn't, I will. If you don't get Fuller, you don't get B Movies, and you don't get what made the unglamorous backbone of the American Movie business in its heyday